Apart from it, his 189 ball-136 was his third consecutive Test ton in the first Test match in the series and fifth overall. With it, Root is also the first English captain since Graham Gooch to notch up a century at Edgbaston.

Kuldeep is the third specialist spinner in the squad, along with experienced Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – the two top ranked Test bowlers. The Galle Test will be followed by matches in Colombo and Pallekele.

Sri Lanka are facing a crisis of confidence after an embarrassing 2-3 series defeat against lower-ranked Zimbabwe in the ODIs. They managed to pull off a face-saving win in the one-off Test against the African nation ahead of India tour.

Regarded as one of the best captains ever in cricket's history, Ranatunga reduced himself to a laughing stock with the claim, which many claimed was bizarre. But fans, specially Indians, have taken strong exception and targeted Lanka's World Cup winning captain with harsh comments on social media platforms.